Nairobi, Aug 12 (AP) Kenya's post-election violence worsened today as police used tear gas on a convoy of opposition officials in the capital and a mortuary official said nine bodies with gunshot woun

Death toll rises amid Kenya’s rioting over disputed vote

Nairobi, Aug 12 (AP) Kenya’s post-election violence worsened today as police used tear gas on a convoy of opposition officials in the capital and a mortuary official said nine bodies with gunshot wounds were brought to a Nairobi morgue from a slum that’s an opposition stronghold.

As rioting continued the day after President Uhuru Kenyatta won a second term in a vote the opposition claims had been rigged, an anguished father said his 9-year-old daughter was killed by a stray bullet while playing with friends.

Kenyan police shot and killed two people during riots by opposition supporters on the outskirts of Kisumu, a city where opposition leader Raila Odinga has strong support, according to Leonard Katana, a regional police commander.

Another five people were injured by gunfire in Kisumu, Katana said.

The government should stop “the random killing of our people,” Odings’s brother Oburu Odinga said. The government accused “criminals” of taking advantage of the tense election period to loot and destroy property.

In Nairobi slums loyal to Odinga, police opened fire to disperse protesters who blocked roads and set up burning barricades. Associated Press photographers saw police charging demonstrators and firing live rounds and tear gas in the Mathare area.

Wycliff Mokaya told The Associated Press his 9-year-old daughter was killed by a stray bullet while on their third- floor balcony in Mathare.

“I was watching her play with her friends when she suddenly fell down,” Mokaya said. “She was my only hope.” A mortuary official said nine bodies with gunshot wounds were brought to the Nairobi morgue from Mathare. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Protesters, some with rocks or sticks, ran for cover as they came under fire in another Nairobi slum, Kibera. One person was shot and killed in Kibera overnight, said Sam Ochieng, a former chairman for Odinga’s party there.

An Associated Press photographer said police used tear gas on a large convoy of vehicles carrying opposition officials that tried to enter Kibera. Police also fired guns into the air.

Most of the country of 45 million people remained calm the day after the election commission announced that Kenyatta, whose father was Kenya’s first president after independence from British colonial rule, had won a second, five-year term.

In a victory speech, Kenyatta said he was extending a “hand of friendship” to the opposition, which alleged that the election commission’s database had been hacked and results were manipulated against Odinga. (AP)